King's Champion is a thrilling game of medieval jousting, where players control three brave knights seeking honor for their household by claiming victory in the Kingswood Tournament of Champions.

Base Game Set Up

The game board is made up of 5 Building Cards for worker placement, 5 Political Track Cards for Household advancement and Expansion, 1 Jousting List Card to choose the order of the Joust each round, 1 Round of Play Card to keep track of player initiative and number of rounds and 1 Phases of Play Card to track the phases of the game.

Example of a Worker Building

Example of a Political Influence Track Card

Once you are comfortable with the Basic game, AdvancedBuildings can be added to expand the board. Advanced buildings provide a wider array of options, greater customization and enhanced replay value.

The game is played over a series of Rounds. Each round has 5 Phases of Play. The Draw Phase, the Worker Phase, the Planning Phase, the Jousting Phase and the Ennoblement Phase.

The Status Tracking Card is used to track the player’s Household Morale, Reputation and advancements on their personal Status Tracking Card

Rounds of Play Card tracks each round and who has the initiative.

The game concludes after six rounds of play, or immediately when a players Morale has expired. If neither player's Morale has been depleted, the player with the highest Morale at the end of the sixth round wins and is declared the King's Champion!

Draw Phase

Each player will draw 1 Enhancement Card and 4 Ability Cards.

Example of Squire and Equipment Card

Example of an Advanced Ability Card

Worker Phase

In the Worker Phase, players will alternate placing emissaries (workers) on buildings and activating the corresponding action. This continues until all emissaries have been placed, or both players pass.

Planning Phase

In the Planning Phase, players will simultaneously plan and prepare their knights for the coming joust!

Placing the Enhancement Card

Enhancement Cards can be used in 2 ways! You may place them as a Squire or as Equipment.

When placed as a Squire, the player slides the card underneath the top of the Knight card, so only the Squire is in view.

When placed as Equipment, the card is slid underneath the bottom of the Knight card, so only the Equipment is in view.

Placing Ability Cards

One Ability Card is secretly chosen per Knight (players will have a minimum of four Ability cards to select from) and is placed face down onto the lower left hand corner of the Knight card. The Ability Cards are not revealed until the Knight enters the joust.

Choosing a Favor Action

Players will select one unique Favor Action each round for their Knights, providing a distinct edge in their joust. Promoted Knights gain even more options to help demoralize your opponent.

Place Dice onto your Knights

Both players place dice from their Dice Pool on each of their three knights.

Set the Order of the Joust

Place your Knight Tokens in the order you wish them to joust.

Place the Jousting Tokens face down onto "The List" in the order in which your Knights will face your rival's Knights. Your hope is that you have utilized your Knights and their abilities efficiently to hinder your opponents listing.

Jousting Phase

In the Jousting Phase players will compete in three jousting events, one for each of their three Knights. Players score the result of the dice rolls and adjust the Reputation and Morale tracks accordingly.

Here is an Example of a roll.

When scoring the results, players either score Hits against the rival's Morale OR they will score Reputation for political gain. EVERY dice roll results in some form of gain for the player.

There are no BAD ROLLS!

Ennoblement Phase

During this phase, both players will have the chance to increase their Political Influence, collect Bravery Tokens, Promote Knights and spend Reputation.

That completes a round of play in the Base Game.

With your help we can unlock Advanced Content and make the game more superior! Advanced play creates an even deeper and more exciting experience.

Man vs Meeple shows their custom box at the end of their preview video.

Shipping cost have risen again this year which in turn makes it tough for the smaller studios such as TSS. In spite of that, we are going to subsidize the shipping to help our backers. While this gives us the chance to give back to you for backing the game, there is still a cost with shipping.

All shipping will be collected here on Kickstarter. We have a quote from our shipping partner and we understand that this adds to the cost of the game, but we can not absorb all the shipping costs on our own. With so much in the box already, the low entry point of the game more than makes up for it. We also did not feel it was the right thing to inflate the price of the game to absorb shipping cost. We could have charged more for the game to gain more money toward the shipping cost but then I don't feel as a creator that is the right thing to do for backers.

Talon Strikes Studios is a small publishing house in Surprise, AZ.We are excited to bring new and interesting games to the board gaming community. Our Mission is to provide a great gaming experience and provide outstanding customer service.

Risks and Challenges

The publication of a board game such as King's Champion is a complicated, time consuming, and expensive process. It is prone to many mistakes and that does not exclude experienced publishers.

We, at Talon Strikes Studios, are new to publishing, but not to the industry. The successful funding and delivering to backers and into distribution our last game, House of Borgia, has lead us to new found knowledge from our own mistakes that we will be applying to this latest endeavor, King's Champion.

Here are the steps we are taking to prepare and reduce the likelihood of mistakes and delays:

1. We have done significant pre-production. This includes having 90% of the art for the game and the graphic design completed. The art isn't 100% ready, because we know how important it is for our backers to be a part of the project and have their say as well! We have our Illustrator, the wonderful Rebecca Barnes, on hand and ready to start with the last of the artwork needed as soon as we give her the green light. The production quote is in hand and ready to be initiated. All we need now is your pledges to make it happen!

2. We are proud to be working with Longpack Games as our game manufacturer. Their attention to detail in games they have produced such as Fantasy Fantasy Baseball, Captain's Wager, Capitol Lux, and many, many more are second to none.

3. Professional distribution is already in place, and we are proud to say it will be handled by Discovery Game Fulfillment.

Again, this isn't to say that this project is immune to the possible mishap; they can happen to anyone but we want to show that this road is a familiar one to Talon Strikes Studios, and that we are confident in our ability to deliver our products to our backers and fans. Thank you for your confidence and support!

Above all, We are 100% dedicated to backer communication. We will be transparent with our process, and involve our backers as much as possible.
We will be present daily during the project to answer any questions or read any comments. We will provide regular updates and supply photos of the progress when possible.

Risks and challenges

The publication of a board game like King's Champion is a complicated, time consuming, and expensive process. It is prone to many mistakes and that does not exclude experienced publishers.

We at Talon Strikes Studios are not new to publishing, however we understand that delays can happen.

Here are the steps we are taking to prepare and reduce the likelihood of mistakes and delays:

1. We have done significant pre-production. This includes having most of the art for the game completed and the graphic design completed. The production quote is in hand and ready to be initiated. All we need now is your pledges to make it happen!

2. We are proud to be working with Longpack Games. They have been in the business for many years and with our combined knowledge we should have a very smooth ride for this project.

3. Professional distribution is already in place, with BC Novelties. They have been in the business of shipping for more than 20 years and work with companies like Amazon every day. They are the kind of company that can handle burst shipping.

Again, this isn't to say that this project is immune to the possible mishap, they can happen to anyone but we want to show that this road is familiar to all parties involved and we are confident in our ability to deliver our products to our backers and fans. House of Borgia was deliver to all our wonderful backers so I know we can make it happen.